In today's global markets, companies are required to navigate a plethora of standards and regulatory requirements, making global business complex. Rockwell Automation's perspective is that the harmonization of standards and regulatory requirements is the best approach to facilitate global market access, competition and growth.
ROCKWELL AUTOMATION MANUFACTURING PERSPECTIVES 2007
A PERSPECTIVE ON STANDARDS:A TOOL FOR GLOBAL COMPETITIVE SURVIVAL IN AN INCREASINGLY COMPLEX REGULATORY WORLDA PERSPECTIVE ON STANDARDS
STANDARDS UNWRAPPED
There's a bitter taste stirring in the chocolate industry as chocolate lovers worry that astandard that defines what is truly chocolate may melt away. Those who favour keepingthe 100-percent cocoa butter standard say the opposition is trying to lower the bar onchocolate quality. At issue is a trade association's proposed change to the Food andDrug Administration Standards of Identity that would allow manufacturers to makechocolate with cocoa butter substitutes. Passions are bubbling on both sides of the pot.
As this sweet tooth example demonstrates, the standards processNever has it been more important stirs emotion and calls for action. Never has it been moreimportant that corporate leadership pays attention as standardsthat corporate leadership pays have become critical to a business' ability to compete and surviveattention as standards have become in an increasingly regulated and complex global marketplace.critical to a business' ability to Standards, as described by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Stancompete and survive. Anderson, senior counsel to the President, "are regulations thataffect our everyday lives. They govern the food we eat and thepackaging it comes in, the water we drink, the medications wetake, the television programs we watch, and a myriad of other aspects in our lives. Theneed for standards is understandable, even desirable, as standards often protect us."
The context we'll use in this discussion for standards refers collectively to the areas ofstandards, regulatory compliance and conformity assessment. Standards are crucial toall global manufacturing industry stakeholders including automation and controlssuppliers, original equipment manufacturers (OEM), and end-user manufacturers.End users demand that their automation systems work safely and securely in plantsaround the world, with increased reliability, precision and accuracy while alsoconserving natural resources and minimizing environmental impact. Supplierscontinuously seek to deliver innovative solutions to efficiently and cost-effectively meetthese end-user demands.
As manufacturing automation becomes more global and seeks consistent solutions indifferent geographies, standards become increasingly more important and cansignificantly impact a company's profitability and competitiveness. In today's globalmarkets, companies are required to navigate a plethora of standards and regulatoryrequirements, making global business complex. Rockwell Automation proposes thatglobal convergence is needed to a single consistent set of applicable standards andregulations which support global reuse and interoperability.
This scenario is sometimes referred to as harmonization and it emphasizes an industry-led voluntary system to achieve "one standard, one test, accepted anywhere."It implies that global products comply with both national and international standardsacross all borders according to one standard, and that conformity assessment isachieved with one test and demonstrated by one mark or certificate.
1A PERSPECTIVE ON STANDARDS
Rockwell Automation's perspective is that the harmonization of standards andregulatory requirements is the best approach to facilitate global market access,competition and growth. The benefits include one product or system accepted inmultiple markets, lower production and inventory costs, lowercosts of needed conformity assessments, elimination of redundantHarmonization of standards and testing, sharing of industry investments needed to developregulatory requirements is the best standards, and quicker access for users and consumers to theapproach to facilitate global market benefits of new technologies.
access, competition and growth. PROTECTING QUALITY OF LIFE OR PROTECTINGMARKETS?
Globalization has driven the need for international standards. But as this need hasgrown, so too has the amount of governmental regulation motivated by societalconcerns for health and safety, environment and ... [download for more]
